MANILA, Philippines—The first business plan competition to provide coaching and investor matching for sustainable enterprises, the Philippine BiD Challenge, is inspiring more innovations.

This year, Rags2Riches, a venture that transforms scrap cloth into designer products, and EchoStore, a boutique that promotes the “sustainable lifestyle” bagged the top two prizes in the Philippine Business in Development (BiD) Challenge organized by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and the Dutch BiD Network Foundation.

Xavier Alpasa, S.J., president of Rags2Riches Inc., and Pacita Juan, a seasoned entrepreneur starting up a new business called the EchoStore, won over 106 business ideas and plans sent by Filipinos from all over the country.

Rags2Riches and EchoStore will be the Philippine BiD entries to the International BiD Competition in the Netherlands in January 2009.

In the past, the international competition produced such sustainable development products for poor communities in Bolivia, Equador, Jordan, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Argentina, Peru and Colombia.

Rags2Riches

Rags2Riches is a business that transforms scraps to bags designed by Rajo Laurel and produced by women from Payatas, Quezon City.

“We used to just weave rags for P8 each. Then Fr. Xavier came to Payatas. This cloth, which we weave carefully, could have ended up as four pot holders. But now it is beautiful because of the design and the help of Fr. Xavier. We now earn more from the bags,” Anna Annipao, 41, one of the women-weavers, explained in Tagalog.

For Reesa Fernandez, executive vice president of Rags2Riches, “Rags2Riches is a social business enterprise creating social statement in style.”

Annipao and Fernandez were present to receive the award together with young Rags2Riches team members from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Also in 2008, Rags2Riches won the Social Enterprise Award from the University of San Francisco, and earned the support of companies such as Creamsilk (Unilever Philippines), and artists like Bencab and Anita Magsaysay-Ho.

EchoStore

EchoStore, short for Environment & Community Hope Organization Store, is a boutique that promotes the so-called sustainable lifestyle. EchoStore in posh Serendra in Taguig City carries home décor, food and nutritional items, fashion accessories, handicrafts, and other organic products that promote sustainable use of resources and help create livelihood opportunities, especially for the poor.

“EchoStore is really about giving others a chance,” explains Jeannie Javelosa, who, together with Reena Francisco and Chit Juan, opened the shop three months ago.

Products from small Filipino producers from all over the country are already featured at the EchoStore.

The EchoStore also makes coffee available, a trademark of Chit Juan, who is widely credited for helping rejuvenate interest in the Philippine coffee variety, Barako, through the founding of Figaro Coffee.

Six other Filipino entrepreneurs individually won P100,000 each to start up or expand their businesses from Citi and Citi Foundation through United Way International, SGV Foundation, Nestlé Philippines and Shell companies in the Philippines, which are PBSP member-companies.

Other prize investors were ING Bank, Foundation for a Sustainable Society Inc., Peace and Equity Foundation, KLM (plane tickets) and Planters Bank (web hosting and software).

“Gold in Garbage,” proposed by Jericho Magbanua of Negros Occidental, won for the zero waste process technology, which transforms all kinds of garbage into building materials, or organic fertilizer.

“Through the BiD Challenge, a Dutch investor will be in the Philippines to observe our business’ operations,” Magbanua said.

Johnny Lantion of Manila won for his “Production of Affordable and User Fit Lower Limb Prosthesis.” Hanilyn Aguilar-Hidalgo of Camarines Sur won for “Propolis Lifestyle: Utilization of native bee propolis extracts for wealth and wellbeing.”

Davao City harvested three awards with winners “Colored Rice: Addressing Hidden Hunger of Filipinos,” iron-fortified rice production proposed by Emmanuel Roldan; “Happy Earth Organic Fertilizers,” to transform banana peelings into natural fertilizers, proposed by Emmanuel Quisol; and “Durian Fiber Processing by Women” of Betty More.

David Balangue, PBSP trustee, and chairman and managing partner of SGV & Co., led fellow heads of corporations and organizations in selecting the winners. From 106 entries, 35 were short-listed, eight were named as finalists and finally, two were named as Philippine champions.

Winners were chosen based on the businesses’ potential to grow by about 30 percent annually and generate jobs. The innovation, feasibility of the idea, capacity of the entrepreneur to run the business, and impact on society, were also considered in the selection.

PBSP, a corporate-led foundation consisting of 238 member-companies, hopes to generate employment, stimulate economic activity in communities and, contribute to a better life for Filipinos through the BiD Challenge. The businesses are open to investors for matching.

“Many Filipinos start a business without a plan. Through the BiD Challenge, PBSP helps micro and small entrepreneurs succeed in their businesses,” PBSP assistant director Rene Fortuno said.

“First, we help entrepreneurs develop a business plan. This is where business coaches—some of them volunteers from PBSP members—come in. And then we match them with investors,” Fortuno said.

Sanjiv Vohra, PBSP trustee and Citi country officer, happily reported during this year’s awarding ceremony that the Filipino winners in the 2007 competition “have moved forward with the rubber tire recycling business receiving orders from the United Kingdom.”

Vohra singled out 2007 winner King’s Grill smoke-free charcoal business, “which now receives orders from Israel.”

Other businesses attracted investments from development organizations supporting sustainable development and have created new jobs and livelihood opportunities.

Now on its third year, the Philippine BiD Challenge was launched in Manila in September 2006 with Fair Ventures, a Dutch NGO and PBSP, the Philippines’ largest corporate-led foundation, as main organizers.

The Philippines was the first in the world to host its own version of the BiD Challenge.